Force a good concubine

The National Lun Cai Grand Ceremony does not tolerate any mistakes. The news that the emperor sent people to proofread the examination papers overnight has spread. Xu Zhang and Zheng Luan led a group of examiners to plead guilty. The ministers argued about the punishment of several negligent examiners. I figured it out: Xu Zhang and Zheng Luan were all fined for two months, and the examiners who had wrong papers were fined for half a year, and their original posts were downgraded to stay for inspection.

Compared with the importance attached by the emperor to this tribute examination, the punishment was unexpectedly light, and the several censors who presented the ceremony looked at each other in surprise, not knowing why the emperor dealt with it so loudly and with little rain.

The emperor sat high on the throne of Kowloon, and he could see all the movements of the officials, his eyes were still slightly downcast, and his voice was calm and steady: "I sent people to proofread the exam papers, just to clear up the doubts in my heart, and I didn't suspect Xu The meaning of Master and Mr. Zheng. I have roughly read the examination papers, and the comments are generally considered appropriate. No one is perfect, but if there is no corruption and dereliction of duty, there is no need to pursue too much for any unintentional mistakes, and a little punishment is fine. , it is more important to cultivate one’s literary spirit.”

This remark was finalized. Since it was an unintentional mistake, there was no excuse to continue to pursue it. Several censors stepped aside sullenly. Xu Zhang saw it, his face remained calm, and he sneered in his heart.If the emperor refuses to let go, and encounters a villain who is hopeful and implicated, the court will have nothing to do with the civil disaster, and the scholars will have to take the exam again, which is a waste of manpower and material resources.It's just that these considerations are not within the scope of consideration of those villains who are jumping up and down to seek fame - Xu Zhang has made up his mind that in the next daily lecture, he will tell the emperor an allusion to the party struggles in the previous dynasty, and he must guard against it.

The emperor's day lectures are usually agreed upon by the head of the Hanlin Academy and the Japanese lecturers, and sent to the palace on the first day of each month. Xu Zhang hurriedly returned to the Imperial Academy after he left the imperial court, and only then spread out the pen and paper, and there was a little eunuch Come to send a message: "Your Majesty ordered Master Xu to come to Wenhua Hall."

The masters of the Japanese lecturers met the emperor almost every day, and there were very few special summons. Xu Zhang couldn't understand it, and entered the Wenhua Palace full of doubts. Gathering together, as if the three divisions were interrogating, I couldn't help being shocked, thinking, is there anyone who confuses the emperor and wants to set up a prison?

"Your Majesty," the people in the palace looked very unattractive, Xu Zhang felt no doubt, and stepped forward, "It's past noon now, and the tribute list has been hung outside the Meridian Gate. Everyone has their own opinions. If you change it rashly, I'm afraid there are people with a heart. Presumptuous self-assessment will lead to troubles. Furthermore, a harmonious morale is a blessing for the country, and if each other becomes strict, it will be detrimental to the country's culture."

The emperor smiled slightly: "I have no intention of changing the matter of the Luanyi Division this time. I just encountered a document, and I don't understand some things about the criminal name." She pointed to a document on the imperial case, and said, "Master Xu is a member of Wenlin, so let's look at the behavior of this scholar. Is it misbehaving?"

The female officer in charge of the case brought the document over, Xu Wen glanced at the cover of the confession, and felt that the name Gu Yuan seemed to have been heard somewhere before, when he opened the document and saw the words "Songjiang Mansion, Wuzhou", he suddenly realized that he was about to read the whole document. However, I was determined in my heart, breathed a sigh of relief, and put the document back to the imperial case: "Forgive me for being stupid, I really can't see anything wrong with this scholar, even if the Yangxian tea is tribute tea, it is not Forbidden items for imperial use, extravagant worldly customs, and particular attention to diet," he shook his head disapprovingly, "it's nothing new at all."

Wu Jiang's complexion was even worse, but Xu Zhixuan still didn't give up, arguing: "The person who gave the tea came from a strange background, I think—"

"What's the problem even if the origin is strange? As long as you are upright and your origin is clean, it doesn't matter who you associate with?" Xu Zhang said, "Your Majesty did not give tea to Xu Shilang this year, but why does Xu Shilang lose Yang every year?" Envy tea? Zheng Tingji was an official in the Ministry of Criminal Justice in the past, and Xu Shilang has a good relationship with him. Could it be that Xu Shilang is also part of Zheng Tingji's party? Scholars are young, and sometimes they act incompletely or sometimes. The country uses materials for their own use. , To be tolerant is to be so arbitrary and arbitrary, even if you don’t mention the spirit of the country’s morale, it’s not fair in terms of punishment and prison.”

"I think so too." The emperor nodded and said, "It doesn't matter if Lin Shiniang is a bandit, let alone not a bandit?"

As soon as this sentence came out, everyone in the hall was stunned, Xu Zhixuan's eyes lit up, he kowtowed and said: "The person who gave the tea is not a bandit, who is it? Your Majesty, please clarify."

"What can't you say?" The emperor smiled generously, "The tribute tea comes from Da Nei, and Lin Shiniang is my bow."

Wu Jiang was startled, he twisted his beard and remained silent, but Xu Zhixuan was overjoyed and kowtowed vigorously: "My minister is dead, how dare I ask Gu Yuan, how can he be so favored?"

Xu Zhang couldn't bear it anymore, he smirked slightly, stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, I also know Gu Yuan's origin, can I say something?"

"It's better for me to say it myself." The emperor sat behind the case as firmly as Mount Tai, and there was no trace of guilt in his expression, "Although the master will not favor me, but I will not explain it myself, I am afraid that some people will gossip in the future. "

"I don't dare to wait." Wu Jiang and Wang Bowen bowed together to plead guilty, and the emperor raised his hand to stop: "What are you doing with Qing? I talked with Li Ruiniang at the Japanese lecture that day, and heard her mention her fellow countryman, saying it was Gu Yuan. Literary talent is very good, but she is weak and sick, and cannot enter the imperial court to take the exam, so she paid attention to it. The other day, Weifu met someone who listened to her papers, and saw that she was indeed very talented in literature, and her family was poor. She copied books for the bookstore to earn some travel expenses, and suddenly cherished her talent She wanted to subsidize one or two, but she refused. This kind of integrity is also very rare. I remembered that everyone said that Yangxian tea is a gentleman's tea. On a whim, I gave her some. I praise her for her integrity. The second is that this item is an elegant item, and the price in the market is very high. In case of emergency, it can also be used as an emergency. Gu Yuanben also refused to accept it. I saw that she didn't know much about tea. Ordinary tea leaves, I reluctantly accepted them just now." The emperor smiled slightly, his tone was calm, "I only thought that she would enter the court in the future, and it would be a good story of the meeting between the monarch and his ministers, who would have thought that it would become an innocent disaster?"

These words were indeed more serious than a harsh reprimand. Xu Zhixuan's face was ashen, and he fell on the ground and dared not speak again. Wu Jiang first kowtowed and pleaded guilty, and then said: "This case was indeed wrongly judged. It's just that Zheng Tingji's case has not been settled yet. The case has been overturned rashly, I'm afraid some people don't know that the court is just, but think that the Zheng party still has a glimmer of hope, and if there are turmoil in his life—"

"That's why I didn't mention it in the morning." The emperor had already made up his mind, and he was even more calm at the moment, "Xu Zhixuan is full of fallacies in his affairs. I think that there may be such mistakes in the cases he handles. This year, I will meet Ji, The Ministry of Rites has long discussed the suspension of the case for a year, and now there is no need to make a fuss about Gu Yan. It is stated to the outside world that the case of Zheng Tingji has something to do with the old case, and all the old cases will be cleaned up during the suspension. Any grievances can be redeemed together. As for Gu Yuan’s fame,” the emperor pondered for a moment, “Since it’s delayed this year, there’s no need to make up for it. Whoever of you writes a private letter and asks the magistrate to take care of it secretly, even though you’ve been wronged, Enke will still ask her to take the exam in Beijing next year, just because she doesn't want to be a sage."

"Your Majesty makes a clear decision." Xu Zhang liked scholars the most, believed in the emperor's words, thanked Gu Yuan for his kindness, and promised to write a letter to take care of the Gu family.Several people from Wu Jiang came out of the hall in disgrace, Xu Zhixuan thought about it carefully, then suddenly came back to his senses, and said to Wu Jiang: "Master Wu, Your Majesty and that Gu Yuan—"

"You think I can't hear it?" Wu Jiang looked up and sighed, "I'm afraid the inside story may not be as simple as that nerd Xu Hanlin thought. It's just that one thing is one thing. You are so careless and confused, and you did such a thing. I thought about it , there is no other way but to ask to resign." Seeing that Xu Zhixuan's face was pale, he still pleaded, and sighed again, "I've said it all, you can figure it out!" Said and walked away.

It's just that he stepped out of the Meridian Gate, looked at the square behind him and Xu Zhixuan stood there in a daze, and couldn't help but sigh again: the emperor has clearly wanted to investigate to the end, and even stopped for a year, and asked to resign or he could die with his whole body. Retire, and then stay in love, are you waiting for the emperor to find a good way to ransack the house and behead him?

Gu Yan, he repeated the name in his heart, and couldn't help but smile bitterly: The emperor said it so grandly, as if he was just respecting the virtuous and caring for talents, and took the responsibility on himself, and gently and skillfully moved Gu Yuan from here. Picked out in a storm.It was obvious that he was the instigator of such a big turmoil in the Ministry of Criminal Justice, but Gu Yan was able to stay out of it, and the Gu family was taken care of without showing any dew. When I thought about it deeply, I was a little startled.

"What an eventful year!" He raised his head and sighed, then turned and entered the cabinet.